Samson Samson ben THE .IE WISH ENCYCLOPEDIA arose ami clashiTl against one anolliur so that tliey did not slavishly submit to tradition, nor did he con- " could l)c licard for a lilve distauco (Lev. R. viii. 2). sider his opinions irrefutable. If my opinion does He was so strong tiiat lie could uplift not agree with yours, reject it," lie once remarked

His I wo mountains and rub tlieni togetluT C'.AIordekai," on Hul. viii. 718). In his love for

(ili. Strength, like two clods of oarlli ; Sotalj 91(). truth he once revoked a former decision of liis own yi't liis superhuman strength, like ("OrZarua"," ii. 17.")); and with great Goliath's, brought wo >ipon its possessor (Eccl. H. His 'Views, reserve he decided a.cainst the views i., end). In licentiousness ho is compared wilh of R. Tarn (" Morde'kai," I.e. p. 733) -Vmnon and Ziuiri, both of whom were punished for and against those of his teacher Isaac ben Samuel Iheir sins (Lev. R. xxiii. 9). Samson's eyes were put (ih. Pes. ii. iJ.'iC). But he .showed himself very intol- out because he had " followed them " too often ( erant toward the Karaites, whom he looked u|ion as I.e.). When Samson was thirsty (conip. Judges xv. heathens with whom Israelites shoidd neither in- 18-19) God caused a well of water to spring from his termarry nor drink wine. teeth (Gen. 1{. /.<•. g 18). Samson si

Israel (conip. Judges xv. 'iO, xvi. 31) he never re- Abulafia lie kept up a lively correspondence; (juired tin- least service from an Israelite (Num. R. through Anit.Mi.vM ben N.\tii.\n lia-'i'arhi. he sent i.\. 2.")), and he piously refrained from taking the an answer to the letter which Abnialiahad addressed name of God in vain. As soon, therefore, as he told to the of Lune! and Toledo, and said, "I did DelilahUiat he wasa Nazarite of God(comp. Judges not come to refute the great lion after his death." xvi. 17) she immediately knew that ho had spoken But. like Abulafia. he condemned ' ra- the truth (Sotah /.<•). When he pulled down the tionalistic views on bodily resurrection jind Tal- temple of Da.-ron and killed himself and the Philis- niudic haggadah: he likewise sided with Abulafia tines (coinp. Judges I.e. verse 30) the structure fell in his objection to some halakic views of Maimoni- backward, so that he was not crushed, his family des. and reproached the last-named for not having being thus enabled to find his body and to bury it indicated the Talmudic sources lin his " Mishneh in tlie tomb of his father (Gen. R. I.e. § 19). Toiah." But later on they quarreled because Abu- Even in the Talniudic period many seem to have lafia was ottcuded by some of Samson's remarks. denied that Samson was a historic figure; he was Samson refers to Saadia Gaon, whose works he apparently regarded as a purely mythological per- knew not through Judah Tibbon's Hebrew trans- sonage. A refutation of this heresy is attempted lation, but jirobably through extracts made for him by the (B. B. I.e.), which gives the name of by Abraham ben Nathan. his mother, and states that he had a.sister also, named In eonseciuence of the persecution of the . by "Nishyan" or "Nashyan " (variant reading. p't'J: Poiie Innocent III. (1 198-121(i). Samson, joining 300 this apparently is the meaning of the passage in English and French rabbis, emigrated to Palestine question, despite the somewhat unsatisfactory ex- about 1211. For some years he lived planation of ). Migrates in Jerusalem, hence he is designated w. n. 5. Z. L. to "the Jernsalemite" ("SeMaG." Pro-

Palestine, liibitions. 6.5, 111 ; Precepts, 48). As SAMSON AND THE SAMSON SCHOOL. mentioned above, he died at Acre See Wol.KKM'.VlTKI,. (Aeco), and he was buried at the fool of Mount SAMSON BEN ABRAHAM OF SENS Carmel.

(KaSHBa or HaRaSH of ]'JN-J') = French tosii- Besides , many of which he composed under

list : born about 11.">U; dird at Acre about 1230. His the direction of his teacher Isaac ben Samuel, Sam- birthplace was probably Falaise, Calvados, where son wrote a commentary on that part of the iMish- lived his gnuidfather, the tosiitist Samson ben Jo- nah not treated in the Babylonian Talmud, namely, sc|)li, called "the Elder." Samson ben Abraham was t lie orders Zcra'im and Tohorot with the exception designated also "tlii! Prince of Sens." He received of the tractates Berakot and Niddah. He fre- instruction from Rabbenu Tain (d. 1171) at quently refers therein to the Palestinian Talmu

THE JKWI8H ENCYCLOPEDIA Samson Samson ben Joseph

comnipnUiry of of Posquieres This same edition, which is poorly edited, likewise (RalJaD). which lie quotes under the desisnation contains the "Otiyyot de- 'Akiba" and vari- "sages of Lunel," '"sages of the Pro- ous cabalistic notes on the form of the letters.

His venre," without mentioning the au- According to Azulai ("Shem ha-Gedolim," ii. Writings. thor'sname. An inadequate edition of 1!>). the name "Baruk sbe-Ainar" became hereditary " Samson's commentary, the manuscript in the family : and .loseph Caro in his Bet Yosef of wliioli is in the Bndk-ian Library at OxfonL was (Orah Hayyim, p. S7) mentions a certain R. Isaac publislied at Warsaw in 1866. As Samson therein Baruk she-Amar, probably a descendant of Samson. numerous Pentateuchal passages, it was er- explains BiBMOr.R.iPHV : ZuDZ. Z. (J. p. 209 ; St«lnsc)iDeider. Cat. Bmll. roneously supposed that he had written a commen- col. 2tm. w. li. M. F. tary on the Pentateuch. He wrote also a few litur-

gical poems, and sometimes used rime in his letters. SAMSON BEN ISAAC OF CHINON : French Of Samson's father, Abraham, Me'ir Abidafia Talmudist: lived at Chinon between 1260 and 1330. speaks as a pious, saintly, and noble man. Samson's In Talmudic literature he is generallj- called after brother, Isaac of Dampierre (KIBA or RIZBA), his native place, Chinon (Hebr. pj'p). and sometimes called also Isaac the Younger to distinguish him by the abbreviation MaHaRShaK. He was a con- from his teacher Isaac the Elder (Isaac ben Samuel), temporaiy of Perez Kohen Gerondi, who, as reported whom be succeeded as principal of the school of by Isaac ben Shesbet, declared Samson to be the Dampierre, is also one of the prominent tosafists. greatest rabbinical authority of his time (Responsa, He wrote, too, some liturgical poems and a commen- No. 157). tary on the Pcntateu(-h He died about 1210. and Samson was the author of the following works: Samson attended bis funeral. Both brothers are (1) "Sefer Keritut" (Constantinople, 1.515). a meth- frequently mentioned in "Or Zarua," " Jlordekai," odology of the Talmud divided into five parts: "Orhot Hayyim." "SeMaG," "Semak," "Sefer ha- (rt) "Bet Jliddot." treating of the thirteen rules r)f Yashar," "Kol Bo," "Shaare Dura," "Haggabot R. Ishmael; (*) "Bet ha Mikdasli." on the rules for Maimuniyyot," "Terumat ha-Deshen," and similar deductions by analogy and conclusions a fortiori: works, and by Asher ben .Tehieland Melrof Hothen- (c) "Netibot 'Olam." cimtainjng explanations of the burg. In his " Milhamot Adonai " Abraham ben Mai- thirty two rules of R. Eliezer ben Jose ha-Gelili; mon refers to Samson's presence in Acre and to his (d) " Yemot 'Olam," giving the names of the Tau- attacks on Maimonides (pp. 16, IT). A son of Sam- naim and . and setting forth a method for son. Jacob, WHS buried at the foot of Mount Tabor: deciding Detween the contrary opinions of two doc- a grandson. Solomon, who lived at Acre about tors; (<) " Leshon Liminudim," explanations of cer- 1260. was known as a great scholar. The statement tain halakic decisions. The "Sefer Keiitut." owing of Griitz ("Gesch." vii. 61) that Closes of Coucy was to its easy style and its author's great authority, " a brother-in-law of Samson is refuted by Gross (in became a classic. (2) Kontres." a commentary on

"R. E. J." vi. 181, and "Gallia .ludaiea/' p. .5.5.5): the Talmudic treatises 'Erubin and 'Abodah Zarah he was a brother-in-law of Samson of Coucy. mentioned in the "Sefer Keiiiut." (3) "Bi'ur lia- Get" (Vienna MS. No. 48). on the laws concerning Bibliographt: Aziilai, Shrm ha-GeiJnlim. i. 126b, No. 178. Warean-. 1S76: Kfirsi. Bilil. Jwl. in. 273: (iriitz. Uescli. 1st divorce.

ed.. vi. 2.T.3. a(W : vii. 17, 41, -SU ; (iross, Gallia Juilaica. pp. Samson wrote also responsa. several of ItVj. IBS. r&l which are 169. 477, : idem, in li. E. J. vi. ll»-18(!. vii. 40-77 ; Hellprin, Sedir Ua-Diiml. i. •M\. Warsaw, l».s:i; Michai'l, Or quoted by .loseph Colon (Responsa, No. 187) and ha-Hainiim.So.12^i'. Mielziner. Jntrndurtitni In Ihe TaU Solomon (Re.sponsji. iii.. iv.. t)9, ben Adret No. 1; No. nttt'i. p. Cincinnati. 18114 : Steinscbneider, Cat. Bodt. cols.

263St-2(}4-' : WeisB, Dfir. v. 10, 25, SS; Zacuto. Sefer Yiiftasin. 1.52). According to Gross, Samson was the authorof ed. Filipowski, p. 21»b. the supercommentary on Ibn Ezra's commentary on r>. S. Man. the Pentateuch found by Judah .Moseoni at Perpi- " " 1.363 SAMSON BEN ELIEZER : German sofer gnan between and 1375 (Halberstam JIS.). (sriilic) oi till- fourteenth century; generallj' called Asregards the word nxS'CnOD (= "of Marseilles"), Baruk she-Amar, fnmi the initial words of the which appears in the manuscript after the name blessing which he delighted to repeat, even in boy- Samson of Chinon. Gro.ss believes that Samson set- hood, at the early nioniiiig service. He was born in tled at Marseilles after the banishment of the .Tews Saxony, but later went with his parents to Prague. from France. Or])lianed when eight old, years he was adopted by BiBLIOGR.iPiiv: Azulai, .s'hfm lia-Ocdnlim. i.}X2: Zunz.Z.G. R. Iss:i(har. a learned scribe, who taught him to p. 44; Luzzalto. Halikftt Jyedt-m.p.iH: HallR'rstam. in j»'»/iu- nin, Wtti, pp. lt>7-ltJS ; 3fay'i2i/j. iii. 47 ; Rcnan-Nfuliiiuer. write Iclillin, mezuzot. and scrolls of the Law. Sam- LcK Rahhins Fraiijais, p. 461; Gross, Uallia Judaica. pp. son appaiently traveled through Austria. Poland, 581 et He

to Palestine to study the work of the soferim of the SAMSON BEN JOSEPH OF FALAISE : Holy Land, where he found that the majority of the Tosatist (if the twelfth century; giaiidfathi-r of the scribes were ignorant of the correct tradition in re- tosafists Isjuic ben Abraham of Dampieire and Sam- gard to the form of the letters. He endeavored to son of Sens. Jacob Tam. with whom he carried on correct this evil in his work "Baruk she-Amar" a scientific correspondence, held him in high esteem (Shklov. 1804). which contains a treatise by R. Abra- Samson was the author of tosafot to the Talmud ham of Sinzheini, a pupil of MeTr of Roihenburg. ical treati,ses Shabbal. Erubin. Yebamot, and Hid on the making and writing of tetilliii. together with lin. He wnite also ritual decisions, cited by Jwl Samson's own notes from the " Halakot Gedolot." ha Levi under the title "Pesakim." One of his "ScMaG." "Terumah." " Rokeah." and other works. decisions, permitting a woman still nursing her